


Dreams of a Hero

by DavisLeo, Rwbysona



Category: Persona Series, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Dabi is Todoroki Touya, Dabi is a Todoroki, F/F, F/M, Kirishima is a transboy, M/M, Multi, No Smut, Original Personas, Threesome - F/M/M, Threesome - M/M/M, kacchako is background, original characters are velvet room attendants, trans!kirishima
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26221474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DavisLeo/pseuds/DavisLeo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rwbysona/pseuds/Rwbysona
Summary: Dreams and reality – two sides of the same coin. Dreams can become reality, whether it be delusional or achieved greatness. To be a Hero is a great dream of many, but what is a true Hero? There is no right nor wrong as everyone has a different definition. Todoroki Shoto dreams of being a Hero but has no definition of what one is. Will the journey into Persona help him? Or shall it lead him astray?
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Midoriya Inko, Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Kirishima Eijirou/Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Shinsou Hitoshi/Kaminari Denki/Asui Tsuyu
Kudos: 3





	1. Hazy Dream - Awakening

A pair of eyes open to an unfamiliar room. The room was a dark blue and not just the walls were blue - the floor, the ceiling and even the bed upon which the individual was laying upon. The bed itself was very soft with plenty of pillows and a nice comforter on top. It was so warm, the individual didn’t want to leave it but curiosity had taken hold. To the left was a closet door to what was assumed to be a walk-in closest, some feathers flowing in and out of the slightly cracked open doors. To the right was a wall with two shelves, each with ten empty picture frames upon them. The frames had a Roman numeral upon them, starting at one and going all the way to twenty. In front of the bed is an elegant vanity table with two people sitting next to it - one in a bean bag that was also the same blue and the other a simple, blue wooden chair. The bean bag had a male figure sitting upon it while the simple chair had a female occupant. In the mirror was a balding man with an oddly long nose and eerie grin splayed on his lips.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room, Honored Guest!” the man with the long nose greets. He wore a suit and was leaning on his gloved hands within the mirror. His bulging eyes watched the new guest get up and approach the vanity with skepticism. “Do you believe in fortune telling?”

“...Not really,” the guest replies. The long nosed man chuckles at this reply before waving his hand and a deck of Tarot cards appears in the reflection of the mirror. The guest found it odd that their own reflection was not in the mirror. With another wave of his hand, the deck shuffles and the long nosed man snaps, the top three cards being removed, the rest of the deck disappearing. Each card was flipped over, revealing the Moon reversed, the Tower upright and the Fool upright.

“My my… How curious of a start for your journey…” the man comments. “You keep clinging to something that is stopping your dreams, but you’ll come to realize that on your own terms. And then, and only then, can you officially start your journey, Honored Guest.”

“Honored Guest. If you could sign here, it would be most beneficial,” says the female individual sitting in the simple chair. The guest looks over at the female and upon closer inspection, the female is about 5’9 and looks to be around 16 years old. She has pale skin, golden eyes and platinum blonde hair. Her platinum hair was pulled into a braid that starts on top of her head and to the base of her neck, the rest flowing out freely. She wore a dark blue maid dress that came to her knees, with a black apron tied to it. Blue plaid bow ties were on the hips of the dress and there was one at the base of the neckline. Dark blue stockings came up to below her knees and simple black heels were on her feet. The female held a piece of paper out with a pen to the guest. 

“Okay…” the guest says, cautiously taking the paper and pen. The guest reads over the paper and was surprised to see that it seemed a lot like a UA application form. After seeing nothing _too_ suspicious on the paper, the guest signs their name: _Todoroki Shoto._ Shoto then hands the paper and pen back to the female, who takes it and sends it off to the long nosed man.

“If you ever need our services, you'll know where to find us. We are here to serve you and help you with your journey, Master Shoto," the female bows.

“Oh great, we’re giving power to this emo ice cream cone who has daddy issues? This _totally_ won’t end horrible!” the male who sat upon the beanbag says sarcastically. Shoto looks over to the male and sees that he looked to be about 6’1 and 15 years old. Like the female on his right, the male had pale skin, golden eyes and platinum blonde hair. The platinum blonde hair was pulled into a sleek and simple ponytail gathered at the nape of his neck. He wore a black dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A dark blue vest is neatly buttoned as a lighter blue tie sticks out a bit messily. His pants are the same dark blue as the vest and the shoes are black dress shoes.

“Alexander! Be polite to Master Shoto!” the female scolds the now dubbed Alexander. The male dressed as a butler just gives a bitch face.

“Am I wrong Hyacinth?” Alexander snarks.

“Be. Polite,” Hyacinth threatens, a fist raised. The two only stopped their bickering due to the long nosed man chuckling.

“Apologies for my attendants. They tend to squabble from time to time,” the man says.

“Uh… Can I know your name…?” Shoto asks.

“In due time Honored Guest. In due time. For now, you must rest,” the man chuckles. 

“But I have so many questions-” Shoto starts, only for the attendants to grab him by the arms and bring him back over to the bed, tucking him in.

“Shut the fuck up. If we tell ya in due time, then we mean in due time,” Alexander grumbles.

“Rest well Master Shoto. We will meet again soon,” Hyacinth smiles, hoping to soothe Shoto from Alexander’s rather abrasive comment. After Shoto is tucked in by the two attendants, he falls back asleep as the Velvet Room begins to fade and returns to the world he is more familiar with.

Shoto wakes with a jolt, almost falling off of his bed as he hears his father, Enji Todoroki aka Endeavour, shout for him. It was time for his morning training before he went off to his father’s agency. With a heavy sigh, Shoto gets out of bed and changes into a pair of black joggers and a white tank top. He shuffles downstairs after slipping his phone and earbuds into his pocket. He makes his way over to the door to pull on his sneakers.

“You know the drill. Be back in 30 minutes,” Enji says, looking down at his son and arms crossed over his chest.

“I know. And then a quick warm-up using my Quirk,” Shoto says, his face and voice bland. Enji smirks.

“Good. I’ve taught you well,” the No.2 Hero says before turning and going deeper into the house. With a shake of his head, Shoto steps outside before putting in his earbuds and turning on his music for his morning jog. As Numb by Linkin Park starts to play, the dual haired male starts his usual morning run, thoughts of the dream he had starting to filter into his mind. His eyebrows furrow as he remembers the oddly blue bedroom, the two attendants Hyacinth and Alexander, and then the man with the abnormally long nose. Now, Shoto was not one to believe in fortune telling or Tarot, but the ominous message he was given was sticking out to him.

“ _‘You keep clinging to something that is stopping your dreams, but you’ll come to realize that on your own terms. And then, and only then, can you officially start your journey, Honored Guest.’_ What did that weird man mean by that…? What journey?” Shoto mutters to himself. “Am I clinging to something? Maybe I’m just taking this dream too literally,” he says, shaking his head. It was just a dream after all and one shouldn’t read into dreams too much. The half hour Shoto jogged for went by quickly enough and before entering the house, he pulls his earbuds out and puts them back into his pocket. He steps into the house and takes his sneakers off before heading towards the training room. Hearing Enji speak, Shoto pauses and listens in, making sure that should his father step out, Enji wouldn’t spot him right away.

“Are the preparations ready?” Enji asks. There was a pause as the person on the phone spoke. “Good… Make sure it doesn’t escape this time and continue the experiment,” Enji says before hanging up. Shoto’s eyes widen and he quietly makes his way towards the training room before his father could notice that he had been lingering outside the room. He had been in the middle of a few stretches when Enji had entered the training room and once finished with the stretches, an hour of grueling training began. 

The rest of the day had been normal for the most part for Shoto with his internship. Morning training at home, breakfast, arrive at the agency, follow his father around for a morning patrol, lunch, study, a quick training session and then followed by another patrol. Since Shoto was technically not allowed to use his Quirk, he often just assisted civilians to safety and tending to first aid if there was an incident while on patrol. If there were no civilians, he was simply to watch his father deal with the situation. The only thing that had been different as opposed to the past few days was the nagging feeling at the back of his mind caused by the odd dream he had. His suspicions that his father was up to something had only been confirmed by the phone call he overheard that morning. Both of these pieces of information had Shoto a little distracted but not enough to alert Enji that his son was not completely focused on the task at hand. As Enji and Shoto finish their second patrol of the day and start to head home, Enji stops.

“Shoto, I left some paperwork on my desk. Go grab it,” Enji says, tossing his office keys to his son. Shoto catches them.

“Okay,” Shoto says monotonously before turning and heading back to the agency. The Hero-in-Training knew that this would be his one and only chance to figure out what his father was up to and he hurried up to Enji’s office. Sliding the door shut behind him, Shoto walks over to the rather nice office desk that Enji owned. He spots the paperwork right on top of the desk but goes behind it and looks at the keys in his hand. Shoto starts trying various drawers, most of them unlocked and with nothing incriminating. He eventually finds a locked drawer and tries the keys until he finds the correct key. As the dual colored boy opens the drawer, he fails to notice the dream catcher insignia on the wood as he grabs an open letter. He pulls the letter out of the envelope and starts reading it. Shoto’s eyebrows furrow as he tries to understand the letter’s contents - Personas, Shadows, Cloud 9, Epiales, Territories. Hoping that maybe the sender of this letter would help him to understand more, Shoto’s eyes dart to the end and only more confusion arises upon seeing the name Morpheus. Just as he stands up, Shoto yelps as he is suddenly pulled in towards the drawer.

Shoto lands on his ass with a grunt, letter still in hand. As he looks around at his new surroundings, soft, gentle music reaches his ears. He stands up slowly and looks around seeing lush green hills, a soft sunset in the sky and large trees with their boughs full and in bloom. Flowers with pastel colors populate various areas of the green grass and a warm and gentle breeze ruffles Shoto’s red and white hair. Shoto feels himself relax a bit in this strange land as nothing felt wrong. He didn’t want to leave if he was being perfectly honest with himself - he didn’t have to deal with his father here it seemed. With a content sigh, Shoto closes his heterochromatic eyes, letting the warm breeze further relax him, blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. However, his moment of peace and bliss was shortly interrupted as a thick string is wrapped around his torso and he is yanked backwards.

As Shoto is lifted into the air, he manages to turn around as two sets of scissors seemingly grasp his sides. His eyes widen as he comes face to face with a giant, black spider. The spider’s face was made of shiny, black silk with eight red buttons acting as eyes that bore into his own two eyes. All eight legs were scissors, the blade themselves being at the end. On the underside, Shoto could just barely make out a red, heart shaped mask that was split down the middle, a golden VI on the heart pieces. The abdomen of the spider was a pincushion with multiple needles sticking out, with the string that had grabbed Shoto retreating into the spinneret. Panic shoots through Shoto’s veins as the pain starts to hit and he tries to activate the fire side of Quirk, only for it not to work.

“What?? My Quirk isn’t working?!” Shoto gasps out loud as he struggles more against the weird spider.

“Heeheehee~ Silly little human… you’re helpless here!” the bizarre spider giggles out. The scissor blades tighten, drawing more blood from Shoto who gasps out in pain. “Such power emanates from you… A tasty morsel you shall be for this simple Alluring Widow!”

“LET GO!” Shoto shouts as he struggles more, ignoring the pain to the best of his ability. He lets out a surprise yelp as he’s struck by a viscous and harsh wind that cuts his cheek.

“Oh how I love it when they _squirm_ ~!” the Alluring Widow says. As the Alluring Widow tightens its grip on the struggling Shoto, the male feels his consciousness start to fade away. A screech from the Widow has him dropped to the floor as fire that came out of seemingly nowhere strikes it. Shoto tries to see his saviours and in front of him, he sees the familiar figure of Aizawa and Shinsou stand in front of him, shielding him from the Alluring Widow. 

“Todoroki! Are you alright?” Aizawa calls back, glancing at his student. Shoto goes to answer his teacher but he gasps out in pain as a voice booms in his head.

“ _Finally pulling your head out of the clouds boy? It’s about time you know. The fact that your teacher and a General Course student had to save you is a little embarrassing. But enough talk… Are you ready to write this story with me? Ready to achieve your dream? Or will you wallow in the blinding rage that knocked you down to this sorry state?”_ the voice says.

“I… I’m ready. I must become a Hero-!” Shoto says, a hand clutched to his head. He doesn’t notice the smirks on Aizawa’s and Shinsou’s faces as they fend off the Alluring Widow.

“ _Wonderful! I art thou, and thou art I! The contract is complete. Summon me and let’s begin this journey of ours!”_ the voice says. As Shoto opens his eyes again, he feels a sudden weight in his hand. In his hand is a red and white book with the Fool Tarot design upon the front and a chain of fire and ice quills attaching the book to his waist. He slowly stands and the book opens.

“Geoffrey Chaucer!” Shoto instinctively calls out, papers surging around him. Behind him, an average sized male floats in a sitting position with his left leg over his right, simple black pants covering the legs. A long, red winter cloak covers the torso and falls off to the side so that the legs are seen. Red and white split hair is in a simple braid and drapes over the right shoulder. A simple white face mask covers the face, only for grey eyes to peer out. In his right hand is a quill made of fire, while in his left is a sheet of paper made of ice. The sheet of ice twirls up as a blast of ice hits the Alluring Widow, knocking it onto its ass.

“Todoroki! Attack it with us!” Aizawa calls out as he lashes out with his capture cloth. Shoto notices that Shinsou was already running forward with a large black and purple scythe. Instinctively, Shoto runs forward as well, not registering the fact that in his right hand is a sword made of ice and in his left, a dagger made of fire. The red and white haired male just runs forwards to assist Aizawa and Shinsou in taking out the Alluring Widow, knowing that answers would come after they were out of danger. With the three of them attacking all at once while the spider was knocked down, it wasn’t long before the Alluring Spider dissipated into nothingness.

“What… the hell… was THAT?!” Shoto pants out, his weapons disappearing for the time being.

“That was what we call a Shadow. Todoroki, you are in another plane of existence called Cloud 9. In this world, Quirks don’t work but instead, we gain something called a Persona. The being you summoned with that book, is your Persona,” Aizawa explains, his eyes drifting to the book.

“Before you ask what Shadows and Personas are, I’ll just tell you. Shadows are the suppressed, negative emotions of humanity. Personas are the opposite of that - they’re reflections of one’s soul essentially,” Shinsou says. He then tilts his head curiously at Shoto’s book cover.

“Okaaay… Why does this world exist and what are you staring at?” Shoto asks, eyes darting between the two.

“We’re not sure why this world exists,” Shinsou answers.

“As for what we’re staring at, it’s your book. You are the Fool Arcana. You are the most powerful of Persona users if I understand this correctly. Every Persona user has an Arcana associated with them,” Aizawa says, rubbing his chin. Before Shoto could even ask, Aizawa and Shinsou hold up their books for Shoto to see. Aizawa’s book was black with the Hierophant Tarot design on the cover, a chain of cats connecting the book to his waist. “Mine is the Hierophant.”

“While mine is Hermit,” Shinsou says. His book was lavender with the Hermit Tarot design on front and a chain of thorns connecting him to the book.

“This… This is a lot to take in…” Shoto says. 

“It is. When you return to school after your internship is done, Shinsou and I will explain more,” Aizawa says. “Now, it’s best you return before it gets too late.”

“Right,” Shoto says. He bows his head in gratitude to the two before he’s directed to an exit to the real world. Shoto returns to Enji’s office and hastily stuffs the letter back into the drawer and locks it before grabbing the paperwork and hauling ass to make it home, hoping that his father didn’t realize how long he was gone. On the way home, the Hierophant and Hermit designs flash in his mind’s eye as Geoffrey’s voice comments on having two new connections - one with Aizawa, and the other with Shinsou.


	2. Hazy Dream - A Start to Understanding

After his incident with Aizawa and Shinsou, Shoto figured that some research was in order. Before going to bed the night of his awakening, he makes a list of things to research in his spare time - Shadows, Personas, and Cloud 9. Over the remainder of his internship when he has free time, Shoto does his research but slowly gets frustrated when Google gives him basically nothing for his inquiries. Shadows was giving him information about the literal shadow that is caused by light hitting an object, information about an English band or about a few other pieces of media. Persona just gave him psychology results… similar to what Shinsou had told him before, but it just meant personality and not the entity. With Cloud 9, he was just getting the idiom and some companies and businesses that used the name. With a groan, Shoto facedesks, glad that it was nighttime and that Enji had gone to bed already.

 _“You know… You haven’t researched everything yet,”_ Geoffrey’s voice rings out in Shoto’s head. This causes Shoto to jolt upright and look around, confused. 

“Geoffrey?” Shoto calls out quietly.

 _“In your head. For being one of the smartest students in your class, you sure are an idiot,”_ Geoffrey responds. Shoto huffs a bit as if his Persona could see it.

“If you’re so wise, why don’t you tell me everything then,” Shoto grumbles sassily. He hears a snort in his mind.

 _“If I could, I would! But I can give you pointers that might get you more success than what you have been searching for. Try Epiales, Morpheus, Arcana and perhaps myself?”_ Geoffrey suggests. Shoto face-palms upon hearing what his Persona suggested.

“As stupid as I feel for not thinking that, thank you,” Shoto says before shifting his attention back to his computer. Curious about Geoffrey, the dual haired boy Googles Geoffrey Chaucer first. He learns that his Persona was an English poet and author from the Middle Ages, known and praised for _The Canterbury Tales_. Additionally, Shoto was impressed with Geoffrey considering that he has been titled as the “father of English literature” and the “father of English poetry”. Glancing at the time, Shoto was glad that it wasn’t too late yet, despite it being past his usual self-imposed bedtime. He goes back to researching and moves onto the Arcana, results about Tarot included. Knowing that trying to understand every bit about the Arcana would be fruitless, Shoto focuses on the Major Arcana since he recognized Fool, Hierophant, Hermit, Tower and Moon. Shoto bookmarks the entire page so he could come back to it later when he comes into contact with other Arcana. Shoto looks into the meanings of Fool, Hierophant and Hermit since those were his, Aizawa’s and Shinsou’s Arcanas. 

_“Hmmm.. Curious information on the Arcana. You know, this could provide insight to people you make connections with. Something tells me these connections are very important and if you can understand the people you connect with, it would be very beneficial in the long run,”_ Geoffrey comments to Shoto.

“Good point. And question, do I need to speak out loud to speak with you?” Shoto asks.

 _“Nope! I can hear your thoughts if you project them to me. Though in Cloud 9, I think it helps to speak out loud since there is so much noise in there. We’ll have to test that later,”_ the poet answers.

 _“Noted. I didn’t want to have to speak out loud to you all the time and get weird looks. I get those enough already,”_ Shoto comments. He gets a laugh in return.

 _“Well, you are a curious looking boy with your splitness. But I will tell you this… I can only speak to you and explore this world, no interactions and using my power is not possible,”_ Geoffrey informs. 

_“Noted. That would have been embarrassing otherwise,”_ Shoto responds as he types Epiales into the Google search bar. _“I wonder when I’ll see that long nosed man again…”_

 _“That, I don’t know. I’m sure when it’s time he’ll appear to you,”_ Geoffrey says. With a nod, Shoto then focuses back on the research at hand. Shoto’s eyes widen upon finding out that Epiales is a Greek spirit of nightmares, and one of something called the oneiroi, or dream-spirits. Frowning, Shoto shifts his search to Morpheus and finds out that he is the Greek God of Dreams and leader of the oneiroi. Shoto leans back in his chair and thinks on all of this information. His father was working with the leader of the oneiroi while opposing one of the oneiroi themselves. All Shoto could work out from the limited information was that there were two factions at war in this plane of existence called Cloud 9, one led by Morpheus, and the other by Epiales. With a sigh, Shoto rubs his face and hopes that he would get more answers from either the long nosed man or from Aizawa soon. The dual haired boy then gets up and gets ready for bed so as to not be _too_ exhausted come morning and maybe see if he could visit that blue room again.

When Shoto’s eyes opened again, he was not greeted to the sight of the ceiling of his room but to the dark blue room instead. He sits up slowly and sees Hyacinth on her chair, Alexander in his beanbag, and the long nosed man in the mirror. Shoto gets out of bed and walks over towards the vanity table to take a seat. He pauses to look at the wall of the numbered frames and notices that a portrait of Aizawa was in the one labeled V and a portrait of Shinsou was in the frame labeled IX. Shoto then sits in front of the vanity mirror.

“Welcome back Honored Guest. It seems you’ve finally awakened and started your journey,” the long nosed man says.

“Yeah… I have questions,” Shoto says.

“Oh I’m sure you do. I am Igor, the proprietor of this Velvet Room. A space between dreams and reality. I am here to assist you on your journey Honored Guest, as will Alexander and Hyacinth,” the now named Igor says. Hyacinth gives a soft smile to Shoto while Alexander just huffs and looks away.

“I see… What can you tell me about Cloud 9 or Epiales and Morpheus?” Shoto asks. Igor’s eyes seem to bulge out a smidge more in surprise.

“You already have knowledge on Epiales and Morpheus? This might make things easier then. While I cannot tell you everything, I can hopefully clear up some things,” Igor says. “What I can tell you is that those two are at war with one another and others in your world are using their… gifts… to advance their agendas. It is up to you how you carve this path and what kind of Hero you will be.”

“We can’t tell you which path to take. That is up to you to decide,” Hyacinth says. “Though, you probably already have an idea on which path to take, even if you don’t realize it yet.”

“Noted…” Shoto says. “So how can you help me?”

“As proprietor, I can provide insight on things, such as your bonds and powers. Additionally, through me, you will be able to create stronger Personas. You, unlike others, wield the power of the Wild Card - an ability that allows you to wield more than just your original Persona. When you obtain more, you will be able to fuse them with Hyacinth’s and Alexander’s help,” Igor says.

“That being said emo boy, you gotta train your power. You’re way too weak to have access to everything so you only get basic bitch shit,” Alexander says.

“To give a bit more detail… You can only fuse two Personas to make a new one. And even then, you must be physically strong enough to be able to wield the new Persona,” Hyacinth says. “I help directly with the fusions whereas Alexander keeps track of the ones you find.”

“Speaking of, you have a Persona now. Give me your book,” Alexander says, holding his hand out. Shoto looks down, surprised to see the red and white book on his hip. He grabs the book and hands it over to Alexander, the quill chain extending as the book moves far away. The male attendant snaps his fingers and a large, ancient, leather tome appears before him. Alexander presses Shoto’s book against the leather and a soft flash of light happens before the book is returned to Shoto. With another snap, the ancient tome disappears. “Alright, if you ever get rid of Geoffrey for some reason and want him back, you can summon him, but you’ll have to pay cause it takes a lot of effort ya hear?”

“Loud and clear. Yen I assume?” Shoto asks. He gets a nod in response. “So what _is_ Cloud 9 besides another plane of existence?”

“As I said before, the Velvet Room is a place of existence between dreams and reality, or the conscious and unconscious. Cloud 9 is the manifestation of the Sea of Souls, or the collective unconscious of humanity,” Igor says.

“So those Shadows… Shinsou told me that the Shadows are the suppressed negative emotions of humanity... So this… Sea of Souls is where they reside?” Shoto asks for clarification.

“More or less. It is also where Personas, the true side of each human, resides,” Igor says. “Now, this is a lot to take in, I think it’s best you sleep on this and return to your world,” the long nosed man says. Shoto goes to protest but sighs, knowing the proprietor was right. He then stands, not needing the attendants to put him to bed. He gets into the bed and pulls the covers off, drifting back asleep.

When Shoto woke up again, he was back in his room. He had an odd feeling nagging him in the back of his mind but he pushes it off as he gets ready for the day’s routine. He was honestly glad that internships were nearing the end as he just wanted to get back to school. Once he was back on patrol with Enji, the nagging feeling returned and Shoto decided to heed the potential warning. He puts his phone on a more intense vibration and slips it into his pocket. Deciding to see what Geoffrey has to say, Shoto reaches out to his Persona.

 _“Geoffrey, do you feel it? Feel that something bad is going to happen?”_ Shoto asks.

 _“I do. Since I am a part of you, I feel everything you feel. I was wondering if you were going to continue to ignore that bad feeling,”_ Geoffrey answers. _“Though, I must say, that Igor fella was quite odd.”_

_“Oh yeah I agree with that. Weird but helpful.”_

_“Indeed! So at least the situation surrounding your father is a bit clearer. Not so sure with those Aizawa and Shinsou fellows…”_

_“I swear Shinsou is Aizawa-sensei’s secret love child…”_

_“...You might be onto something Shoto.”_

_“I’m glad someone agrees with me on that. But back to the Velvet Room… What do you think of the attendants?”_

_“Hyacinth is quite the fair maiden. Very gentle and pretty. Alexander on the other hand… He’s a brute and quite vile. Not bad looking. But overall both seem competent and helpful.”_

_“Here’s hoping. Out of curiosity, what did it feel like when you got pressed against the big tome Alexander had?”_

_“Bizarre and I did not like the feeling. It felt like I had my very essence pulled away from me, but then it was back.”_

_“Huh, noted. That will probably happen again if you learn new tricks.”_

_“Oh absolutely_ ** _splendid_** _,”_ Geoffrey responds, the sarcasm oozing from his words. Shoto snorts a bit hearing it. However, before Shoto could continue talking to Geoffrey, Enji was shouting at him to quickly follow as their help was needed. Switching gears to Hero mode, Shoto starts to follow his father to the intense situation. As Shoto runs, his phone vibrates and he stops to check the message only to see a location and nothing else from Midoriya. Glancing up towards Enji, Shoto splits off, heading down the nearby alleyway. He knew _something_ was wrong but had no idea what was so wrong that Midoriya sent only his location. Of course it had been in a nameless alleyway which made it even that much harder to _find_ him. Shoto then remembers that the Hero Killer Stain had been in Hosu, which was where he and Enji had been patrolling the past few days, and was starting to piece together what might be happening. As he runs through, Shoto makes a few calls to get pros to the location. He hears a loud shout from Midoriya from the alleyway and sprints ahead, just in time to see Stain about to stab Iida. Shoto shoots a stream of fire towards Stain to get him away from Iida.

“Midoriya, you need to give more details in a time like this,” Shoto says, holding his phone up, his left arm still on fire from his attack. “You made me late.”

“T-Todoroki, you too?” Iida asks, surprised to see yet another one of his classmates here.

“Why are you here? And using your left side too-” Midoriya asks, also surprised to see Shoto of all people there.

“Why? That’s my line. It took me a few seconds to figure out what you meant since you sent just your location info. You’re not really one to send that for no reason,” he explains as the fire then goes out, dropping slightly into a stance. He sends ice out to get everyone to safety as he noticed that Native, Midoriya and Iida could not move, speaking once more. “You meant that you were in trouble and to call for help, right? Don’t worry. The pros will also get here in a few minutes,” he says running forward. Shoto sends out a blast of fire as the three paralyzed people slide behind him. Adrenaline pumps through Shoto’s veins as he stands opposed to Stain, positioning himself directly in front of his friends and the Pro. “This is just like the information about him implies. I won’t let you kill these guys, Hero Killer.”

“Todoroki! Don’t let this guy see your blood! I think he controls his opponents’ actions by ingesting their blood orally. That’s how he got all of us!” Midoriya calls out to Shoto, giving him a warning.

“He sucks blood to keep people from moving. That’s why he uses blades, huh? I can keep my distance-” Shoto says, foolishly taking his eyes off of Stain. 

_“Shoto- Watch out-”_ Geoffrey calls out, only for the dual haired boy to get grazed on the face with a thrown knife.

“You have good friends, Ingenium!” Stain calls out as he leaps towards Shoto. Shoto tries to block Stain with some ice, only to catch a glint of metal in his eyes and he looks up. He sees the sword and realizes what happened - the sword had also been thrown at the same time as the knife. Stain then grabs Shoto by the collar and pulls him close, his abnormal and gross tongue flicking out to lick the blood off of Shoto’s cheek. Shoto gasps and immediately lights up, flames covering his face protectively, forcing Stain away. Shoto then sends more ice at Stain to get him to go away.

 _“This man is really strong Shoto… You need to be a bit more careful. Unlike the Shadow you fought with Aizawa and Shinsou, this is another human being. Not some mindless monster,”_ Geoffrey warns.

 _“Right,”_ Shoto responds, creating more ice and fire to keep the Hero Killer at bay.

“Why are you two… Why… Please stop! I’ve inherited my brother’s name. I have to do it… That guy’s mine...!” Iida says, voice strained and trying to get his classmates to leave.

 _“Wow. Selfish much? Your classmate needs to get his head out of his ass...”_ Geoffrey scoffs. Shoto refrains from snorting in response as he knew it was time to get serious with what he was about to say.

“You inherited it? That’s strange,” Shoto starts out, alternating between fire and ice as he fends off Stain as the Hero Killer leapt around. “The Ingenium I saw before didn’t have that look on his face, though. You’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes in your family, too, huh?”

“Todoroki…” Midoriya grits out, trying to move. The ice wall that Shoto had created shatters into pieces.

“To block your own view against an opponent faster than you… What a foolish plan!” Stain comments, high in the air.

“I wonder about that-” Shoto says, his arm lighting on fire only to gasp out in pain as three knives pierce it.

 _“Shoto! Above you!”_ Geoffrey calls out, causing the dual haired boy to look up. Above Shoto was Stain, coming straight down, the sword pointed directly at him.

“You’re pretty good too!” Stain says, his face somehow even more twisted and bloodthirsty. However, before Stain could even land on Shoto, a blur of green zips past Shoto and grabs Stain, smashing him along the building side.

“Midoriya!” Shoto calls out, his eyes widening in surprise as he holds onto his pierced arm.

“I can move normally for some reason now!” Midoriya shouts to Shoto. Shoto pieces another bit of information about Stain’s Quirk.

“A time limit?” Shoto asks.

“No, that kid should’ve been the last one he got. I can’t move,” Native informs Shoto, finally saying something. 

_“Hmmm… How odd. Perhaps when multiple opponents are paralyzed, it does a reverse?”_ Geoffrey theorizes.

 _“Maybe. We don’t have all the information on his Quirk…”_ Shoto responds to Geoffrey. When Midoriya and Stain return to the ground, Shoto sends out some ice. “Get back, Midoriya!” he warns. Midoriya rolls out of the way and quickly gets to Shoto’s side.

“He takes in a person’s blood to keep them from moving. Since I got free first… I can think of three possible reasons. It could be less effective with more people, the amount ingested could affect how long it works, or there could be a difference in effectiveness based on a person’s blood type!” Midoriya quickly explains to Shoto. This seemingly clicks in the mind of the other two.

“Blood type..? Mine’s B…” Native says.

“I’m type A..” Iida gets out. Stain smirks widely, impressed by Midoriya’s deductive work in how his Quirk worked.

“Blood type? That’s correct,” Stain confirms. As annoyed as the Hero Killer was that these children were interfering with his plans, he had to give them credit for their excellent work and thinking.

“I can’t really do anything just by knowing his Quirk, though,” Midoriya says.

“I wanted to hurry up and carry those two out of here, but he can react so fast, he can avoid ice and fire. I can’t leave myself that open,” Shoto explains, frowning. “I think our best option is to hold on by avoiding close combat until the Pros get here…”

“Todoroki, you’ve already shed too much blood. I’ll distract him, so you support me from behind!” Midoriya says, only loud enough for Shoto to hear as he activates his Quirk.

“That’s a pretty big risk, but yeah… The two of us will protect them!” Shoto says, determination in his voice.

 _“Heh, a fine Hero you will be. I’m glad I’ll get to see you progress through this journey of ours Shoto!”_ Geoffrey says, the smirk clear in his voice. _“Time to progress onwards with our story for it is just the beginning!”_

“Two against one, huh?” Stain asks, sinking into a stance. “It won’t be easy,” he says before leaping into action. Midoriya and Shoto start their attack to stall for time, the green haired boy darting around, doing his best to avoid swipes from Stain. Shoto shoots forth fire and ice appropriately to cover Midoriya as they launch their attack against the Hero Killer. Shoto glances at Iida for but a moment before refocusing.

 _“You’re deeply worried for Iida, aren’t you? You seem to know where his head is at, don’t you?”_ Geoffrey asks.

 _“I do… Before I made a contract with you, I had refused to use my fire as it was from my father. This narrowed my field of vision, but all it took was a few words from Midoriya to break through and change how I viewed everything. I still haven’t forgiven my father, nor do I plan to, but I’ve been making steps towards bettering myself… And repairing things that were destroyed, like my relationship with my mother,”_ Shoto explains to Geoffrey. 

“Please stop… I’m already…” Iida weakly calls out, tears forming in his eyes, bringing Shoto’s attention to him. Shoto clenches his jaw.

“If you want us to stop, then stand up!” Shoto shouts. Seeing Midoriya frozen, he sends more ice as a barrier. It was time to pass on the motivation and as his arm lights on fire, Shoto shouts to Iida - “Look properly at what you want to be!”


End file.
